Embarrassed by Hope

Isaiah 11:1-10      A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Matthew 3:1-12   In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

+++

The roundtable cancelled today due to various scheduling conflicts and health concerns.  As a result, I sat and considered the texts for Advent 2 alone at my desk. 

It has gotten to the point where I can easily recognize the voice of Walter Brueggemann in my reading.  I am leading a four-week Advent study for the adult Sunday school class using Names for the Messiah, a study written by Walter Brueggemann.  And he has had a hand in the lectionary commentary I use, as well as the Isaiah commentary I pulled off the shelf today.  I have the feeling that Brueggemann calls Westminster John Knox publishing periodically to see what they need, or perhaps they call him and ask him what he’s got.  They’re tight.

But the thing I’m noticing is that Brueggeman has a particularly effective way of drawing out the themes of power – political power, economic power – and letting the light reflect on parallels we are living with in the present day.  We can see it in Isaiah and thereby we can see it in Matthew as well.

When we sit with the Isaiah passage alone for a few minutes, without making the immediate leap to Jesus, we are looking at a people in need of a king.  Their despair is evident, and we know the reasons for it – too many years of weak and corrupt leadership, too little protection from powerful enemies.  And their desire is also evident: they want a leader who has the wisdom to discern right from wrong, and the integrity to make decisions accordingly.  They want a leader who will lift up the downtrodden, even if it means reining in the powerful and wealthy.

And maybe it sounds outrageous to even ask for such a thing.  Because the poetry continues unfolding images of impossible things: the wolf with the lamb, the leopard with the kid.  “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse … and a little child shall lead them.”

In this season that is characterized by hope, we remain embarrassed by it.  We are sophisticated, intelligent people.  How can we even say our deepest desires out loud?  They are laughable.  Peace in the Middle East?  Ethical business and political leaders?  A tax system that works?

You want an economy in which everyone has what they need?  a society in which people collaborate for the common good, where every human life is valued?  We are too cynical to believe in these things, because we know they are impossible.  And our hopes are adjusted to fit reality. 

Then I am reminded of the words Jesus speaks to his followers, “For God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27), and I know that such shrunken hopes as ours betray a lack of faith.

“God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham,” says John the Baptist.  Again, the impossible.  But perhaps only impossible if we are in the habit of shutting the Lord out.  Or failing to hear him knock; failing to welcome him in.

Perhaps we see in the story of John the Baptist that hope is not in any way a passive thing.  It grows from repentance, as we prepare the way of the Lord, clearing paths for him, bearing fruit.  And at the same time, we must not fall prey to the belief that we are doing it all alone.  If we believe we are responsible for bringing peace and harmony to the world, cynicism will be hard to avoid. 

I wonder, then, how to find this balance today.  In a land where the very rich are poised to get richer, where the immigrant is pushed back into the shadows, where the racial and religious minorities are feeling the threat of a newly energized white supremacist movement, where is the road to hope?  

How does our Christian baptism equip us to bear hope into our world?  What does this look like in your own life?  How do you draw on the power of the Spirit to keep moving forward?